LisaSanders

Late Wednesday, shareholders filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Houston that claims El Paso used a variety of "schemes," including the use of round-trip trades, to hide its true financial picture from investors.

El Paso officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Lead plaintiff in the case is Oscar Wyatt, one of the company's largest individual shareholders and the former owner of Coastal Corp., which merged with El Paso last year. See story.

Among utility stocks, AES Corp.
AES, -0.45%
led the pack, rising 13 cents, or 9.2 percent, to close at $1.54. The Philadelphia Utility Index
UTY, -0.17%
was up 0.6 percent to close at 241.25.

Oil service stocks were mostly higher and the PSE Oil Service Index
OSX, +0.47%
added 1.5 percent to close at 88.18. Halliburton
HAL, -0.11%
advanced by $1.03, or 5.7 percent, to close at $19.11.

In commodities trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, January crude lost 3 cents to settle at $26.32 a barrel and natural gas for December rose by 9.7 cents to settle at $4.351 per million British thermal units. See Futures Movers.

The CBOE Oil Index
OIX, -1.72%
was up 0.6 percent to close at 259.72. Dow component ExxonMobil
XOM, -0.11%
was lower by 38 cents to close at $34.86.

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